In May and June, Mrs. Gemac and I flew a Oneworld award ticket in Business Class, paid for with 80,000 AA miles per ticket. One segment was LHR-SNN on EI. We had lounge access for all international flights except for this one segment. When we went to the EI lounge, we were told that it didn't matter what kind of ticket we had, the only way to enter their lounge was to have one of about 30 different lounge memberships.

I have the following questions:

1. The LHR-SNN segment on EI was flown in coach, as EI had only coach class on that flight, and I believe I was told, on all other flights on that route. Does EI have any Business Class at all out of LHR? If not, perhaps that is their reasoning for denying access to their lounge.

2. My understanding is that I was flying on a Business Class ticket. For reasons of my own convenience, I elected to park my Business Class fanny in a coach seat for this segment, but it was still a business class ticket. I received no reduction in the miles required to purchase the ticket for the fact that this segment was flown in coach. Am I incorrect?

3. Was I wrong to expect lounge access? We received EI lounge access on our SNN-BOS segment, and I was singularly unimpressed with that lounge, so perhaps I didn't miss much, but it was an irritation, as we had almost two hours to kill in LHR.

4. If you think I have a complaint, should I direct that complaint to AA (where I bought the tickets with miles) or to EI?

I would appreciate your thoughts.